3 pack white bamboo crew socks with red/blue stripes

Three pairs of white bamboo tennis socks with red and blue stripes

The white sports sock with red and blue stripes in the rib is probably the most recognisable sock design there is. It comes from the tennis court in the seventies, it has been in and out of fashion several times, and it looks just as right with a pair of retro trainers today as it did back then. Three pairs in the pack.

The sizes are 34/39, 40/44 and 45/49, and the style is unisex.

The stripes are meant to be seen

It is a visible sock, and it is designed to be worn that way. Over the edge of a low trainer, with shorts in summer, or pulled all the way up with a pair of short trousers if you want the full seventies look. The red and blue stripes mean it goes with red, blue and completely neutral clothes alike.

Cushioned sole and high leg

The underside of the foot is woven extra thick. That gives a layer between the ball of the foot and the sole of the shoe, which takes the pressure off the foot if you stand up for many hours or wear a shoe without cushioning. The leg goes up the calf and stays in place, which is the whole precondition for the stripes being seen at all.

From plant to yarn

Bamboo is a grass, not a tree. The cellulose is dissolved out of the plant and spun into yarn, and it is that process which gives the fibre the round and smooth surface a cotton fibre does not have. You can feel it straight away, and it is also the explanation for why the sock does not ball up into hard pills under the foot after a couple of months, the way a cheap cotton sock does. We have described the whole process under how bamboo viscose is made.

In practice, though, it is the moisture that matters most. Bamboo viscose moves moisture from the skin out into the fabric, where it evaporates, and that is extra important in a thick sports sock, which would otherwise become warm and wet.

Composition

75 % bamboo viscose, 23 % polyester and 2 % elastane. The polyester provides the durability in the cushioned sole, the elastane keeps the ribbed edge up around the calf. The socks are OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified, cert. no. 976-15301, that is tested for substances harmful to health in every single part, the dye in the stripes included. What the label covers is explained under what OEKO-TEX Standard 100 means.

Washing a white sock with coloured stripes

Wash at 40 degrees with other white items the first few times, not with coloured items, as white otherwise takes on a grey tone that does not come out again. Chlorine bleach must be avoided completely here, both because it attacks the viscose and because it attacks the stripes. Fabric softener should be avoided as well. See washing and care.

The sole gets darker over time from the shoe. That is wear, not dirt.

Three pairs

The model comes in a three pack, because a cushioned sole takes more yarn than an ordinary sock. Three pairs cover a week with a wash along the way, and for sport it is worth having two packs, so there is always a dry pair ready for the next session.

See the rest

There are several stripe variants, and the model also comes in plain black, white and red. Have a look under bamboo socks or bamboo socks for women.